The Barmaid and the Harvest Sprite
by theatrelove123
Summary: Winner of a contest in Swingdancer23's Dares forum! Muffy has spent her entire life looking for a man, but nobody has ever loved her in return. Nak, the red harvest sprite, comforts her when she needs it most. Could something develop between them?


**Hey, all! Long time no see x). This here is the response to a challenge from Swingdancer23's Dares Forum, which told writers to create a oneshot about the craziest crack couple they could come up with. Mine is centered around Muffy and Nak the red harvest sprite, both of whom are from Forget-Me-Not. Yes, it's odd. Yes, it's also quite cute. I'm actually very happy with how this turned out, considering it was for such an odd couple. It may be a wee bit sappy, but sap isn't always a bad thing ;). Enjoy!**

**~Theatrelove**

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><p>Muffy walked hurriedly down the street towards the apartment. Why on Earth had she decided to wear heels that day, anyway? It certainly didn't make the task of getting home any easier.<p>

_Home. _The word sent shivers of excitement through her. _His home. My home. __Our__ home._ She had just moved in with Josh, her boyfriend. The two of them shared a two room studio apartment in the city. Sure, it wasn't as glamorous as Muffy had hoped, but she didn't really mind. What was more important to her was the fact that she had moved in with a boyfriend. It made her feel committed; like the time that they'd spent together had been worth something.

Muffy sighed gratefully once she reached the door to the complex. It had been a long day at work, and she wanted nothing more than to collapse onto the sofa. Josh might even make her a cup of hot chocolate! And then she could tell him about her day, and he'd talk about his, and they'd laugh and kiss and cuddle together into the wee hours of the morning…

But when Muffy unsuspectingly walked in on Josh kissing another woman in their bed, she knew that there would be no further cuddling between them.

"What is going on here?" Muffy shouted accusingly. Josh, having just become aware of her presence, removed his mouth from the other girl's and frantically tried to hide her from view.

"C'mon, babe. I-it's not what it looks like!" he told her. But the way he stuttered with widened eyes told Muffy that it was _exactly_ what it looked like.

"What was it then? What were you doing with her, Josh?" The girl looked irritably at Muffy from behind Josh. She obviously hadn't anticipated on an angry girlfriend interrupting their make-out session. Josh rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he tried to give his irate girlfriend a feasible explanation. "We were just, uh, playin' cards is all!" he finally decided.

Muffy's hands gathered into tight fists by her sides as she glared at her soon-to-be-ex boyfriend. "Playing cards?" she asked through clenched teeth. "On top of each other? Half dressed? In the bed? You really expect me to believe that you were just _playing cards_?"

"Umm…yes?" Josh replied dumbly. Muffy's heart sank. She would have liked to believe that her boyfriend and this woman had just been playing an innocent game of cards. The past six months with Josh had been wonderful. She had even thought she may have found 'the one'.

But all of her happiness, all of the pleasant memories she'd shared with her boyfriend, were gone in an instant, leaving nothing but this image of him on top of another woman in their place.

"You idiot!" Muffy shouted. She could feel the tears coming on, but she held them back. Not yet, she told herself. Don't let him see you cry.

"To think that I devoted six months of my life to such a worthless, disgusting jerk! Josh, I…I never want to see your sorry face again!" The city boy remained speechless as Muffy proceeded to grab her purse and walk out the door, slamming it loudly behind her.

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><p>She did not cry when she left what had been their apartment, nor did she cry during the taxi ride out of the city. Muffy waited for almost two hours, until she was standing on the bridge between Jill's farm and Vesta's farm. She had deemed it her 'Heartbreak Bridge'. It was this bridge that she went to whenever she was feeling upset. Josh was the fifth city boy that had led her to that bridge. Thoughts of him and the woman reduced Muffy to wretched sobs as she watched the rushing water. The river water reminded her of something Griffin had once told her after a previous break up: "Don't worry, sweetie," he'd said, "there are plenty more fish in the sea."<p>

Although the words had sounded nice coming from Griffin, there didn't seem to be any truth behind them, at least not from where Muffy was standing. She had been 'fishing' for a man since high school. She dated several of them from all parts of the social ladder. Most of her relationships had been quite superficial, maybe with one, two dates tops. But there had been a few where Muffy thought that she was in really love, and had finally caught the right fish. In the end however, every man she'd ever fallen for turned out to be a scumbag.

"Why don't men take me seriously?" she cried, not caring if she received some stares from the village passerby. "Why don't they think that I might want more than a 'good time'? That I might have feelings? That our relationship might mean something to me?"

"Uh, excuse me, miss?" A little voice asked. But Muffy was too engrossed in her anger to notice.

"Why is it that they think they can just throw me away like a piece of garbage?"

"Miss?" the voice called again, still earning no response from the barmaid.

"Ugh, I'll never love another man again!" She shouted, and, in her rage, accidentally shoved the owner of the voice off of the arm of the bridge where he'd been standing and towards the wooden boards below.

"Ouch!" the voice's owner cried out as he hit the bottom of the bridge with a loud thump. The noise got Muffy's attention. She looked down, and she gasped.

On the bridge was a little creature with pointed ears. He had big brown boots, a red button up jacket, and bright green hair covered by a red pom-pom hat. Some may have thought him to be ridiculous looking, but Muffy found him strangely adorable. She stared at him curiously for a moment, watching intently as he stood up and dusted himself off.

"That," he said, glaring at her angrily. "Was _very _rude! I just wanted to talk to you, miss, and you knocked me to the ground!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry! It was unintentional, really. Are you alright?" she bent down to get a closer look at him, checking for any bruises or bumps.

The creature sighed. "I'm fine, it didn't really hurt that bad. Sorry I got mad at you; I guess I just haven't been having the best day, is all."

Muffy nodded sympathetically as she scooped the creature up and placed him back on the arm of the bridge. "Tell me about it. Maybe I can help?" the creature looked to her hopefully, as if he truly believed that she could help to solve his problem. The look of trust caught Muffy by surprise; it made the creature look so vulnerable, so open, so endearing.

"I'm on a mission." He explained. "The Harvest Goddess—"

"Wait!" Muffy cut him off. "You're doing something for the Harvest Goddess, so that must mean you're a harvest sprite!"

The sprite smiled slightly at her sudden epiphany. "Yup! Nak, the red harvest sprite, at your service." He said with a little bow.

"Whatever the mission was that the Harvest Goddess assigned you, it must have been pretty important." Muffy said, and Nak nodded in affirmation.

"It is. I'm supposed to help her find happiness, but I haven't had any luck. My brothers, Nik and Flak, haven't found any either." He sighed, putting a head in his hands. "I don't know what to do. I really don't want to disappoint the Harvest Goddess…" Muffy's heart ached for the sprite. He really did seem to feel hopeless. She knew the feeling well.

"Well, I guess I'm not really the girl to help you, then." She admitted, smiling a melancholy smile. "My day certainly hasn't been much better than yours. I feel about as far away from happiness as I could possibly get."

Nak quirked an eyebrow in interest. "What happened to _you_?" he asked. "Come to think of it, you do look pretty upset."

Muffy sighed, and tucked a blonde strand behind her ear. "It's…kind of a long story." She warned.

"I've got time." The sprite shrugged. He plopped down and took a seat in his spot on the bridge arm. He looked thoughtfully at Muffy and nodded his head. "Start at the very beginning."

And start at the very beginning she did. Muffy took Nak through each time that she fell in love, leaving out not even the smallest details. She talked about the meetings, the sunsets, the crash and burn moments when she realized each time that the relationship wouldn't work out. Muffy expected the sprite to have found this excruciating, but Nak sat and listened attentively the entire time.

Nobody had _ever_ listened to her like that before. Muffy felt so freed by Nak's giving her his undivided attention that she spoke more openly than she had in a long time.

Finally, Muffy's story came to a close. "And that's how I ended up here." She told him. Silence followed for a few moments before Nak spoke up.

"That," he said, "is unbelievable."

Muffy found herself thrown off guard by his statement. "What is?" she asked.

"That so many men would do such horrible things to you!" he said, standing up. "It's outrageous! You seem so kind and genuine and lovely. I know that, if I were one of those guys, I'd have treated you like a queen…" Nak trailed off, his small cheeks acquiring a light pink tint.

"That was the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me." Muffy said quietly. Nobody had ever complimented her in such a way before! But Nak's words were so sincere; they made her feel like she _was_ worth something, after all.

"I came over to you on a mission to find happiness for the Harvest Goddess." he started. "At first, I realized that it was pretty ironic, coming over here, seeing as you were so _un_happy. But, while I was listening to you, I figured it out. I came over here because you _are_ happiness, Muffy. You embody it. Even when you're sad, you have this glow about you. I may not know you all that well, but all you seem to want to do is make other people happy. I think that's amaz—Whoa!" Nak was caught by surprise as Muffy reached out, plucked him up from his position on the bridge, and brought him into a tight embrace.

"Thank you…_Thank you so much_!" Muffy cried as she squeezed him, never wanting to let him go. Nak felt a tear plop onto his shirt and begin to seep its way through the thin material.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, don't start crying again! I thought that was over and done with." He said, and Muffy just laughed.

"I'm not crying because I'm sad, silly sprite." She told him as she held him in her hands. "I'm crying because I'm happy!" Muffy then moved her head forward, and gave Nak a quick kiss on the cheek. The sprite's cheeks, which had once been light pink, were now sporting a vibrant shade of deep red.

"W-w-well," Nak stuttered, somewhat flustered as he was placed back down on the bridge's arm. "I guess we both found what we were looking for. I found happiness…"

"…And I found you." Muffy finished for him. The red sprite and the girl in the red dress smiled broadly at each other, both of their moods having immensely improved from before. Muffy then noticed that the sun was slowly leaving the sky. She checked her watch.

"Oh! I've got to go right now, or I'll be late for the evening shift at the bar!" She turned to Nak. "Please tell me I can see you again sometime soon?" she pleaded.

Nak laughed. "I promise we'll see each other again. And a harvest sprite _never_ breaks his promises!"

Muffy smiled at him, and Nak felt as though he were walking on air. "I'm so happy I met you." She said. "Until we meet again?"

He nodded, "Until we meet again, happiness!" And with those parting words, the girl and the sprite waved each other off as one headed towards the bar, and the other moved into the forest.

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><p>Nak was right when he said that harvest sprites never break their promises. Muffy met up with him the next day, and the day after that, and so on and so forth. Eventually, the two of them found being with one another so natural that they felt as though it had always been that way.<p>

People did make comments, of course. It was suspected quite early on that the bond Muffy and the harvest sprite shared was more than one of friendship. Her friends gave her an especially hard time. _You could have any guy you wanted,_ they said,_ and you picked the midget?_

But Muffy didn't care. They couldn't grasp it. Nak was the only one she had ever met who really understood her and listened to her and was there for her in both her ups and her downs. She loved him and he loved her back; that was all that really mattered to Muffy.

She'd spent her whole life trying to find the right man. It had turned out, however, that what she was looking for hadn't been a man after all. He was a harvest sprite.


End file.
